Delve into the origins of the Greek language, unraveling its roots and discovering whether Greek falls under the umbrella of Romance languages.
Key Takeaway:
- The Greek language, with its rich history, has distinct origins separate from Romance languages, offering a unique linguistic journey.
- The Greek language has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language.
Its alphabet originated from the Phoenician script, and is the basis of many other writing systems such as Latin and Cyrillic.
Greek has been spoken in the Balkan Peninsula since around the late 3rd millennium B.C., and has an important place in the histories of Europe.
Widely spoken in the Mediterranean world during Classical Antiquity, Greek would eventually become the official language of the Byzantine Empire.
Greek is not a Romance language even though it may sound romantic.
A Romance language is not determined by love but by whether it is based on Latin, the language of the Romans.
French, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, and Spanish are Romance languages, actually in both senses of the word.
